My Personal Testamony
and
Life Story
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My Thoughts
My Church
When I was in Elementary School, my mother, my sister and I attended church together. We did not go every Sunday, but we did go quite often. My father and my youngest brother would bring us and they would go off and do whatever a father and son do on a Sunday morning. They were always there to pick us up after church was over when my mother went with us. If my mother did not go, my sister and I would walk home. It really wasn't far, maybe a half mile.
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I remember THE day very vividly. My mother had not gone that day, and my sister and I had planned to stay only for Sunday School. For some reason, the Sunday School classes met in the auditorium, and we had a regular Preaching service that week. I don't remember word for word the sermon, but I remember the point of it.
The minister told the story of a little boy who built a model sail boat. He worked and worked on it until he had the boat just the way he wanted it. In his eyes, it was perfect. He knew that the true test of how perfect it was, would be for him to put it in the water and see if it would float. So he took the sail boat and went out to a nearby stream.
Lovingly he set the boat into the water. For a while it just sat there, until the current began to pull it away. The boy followed as it slowly floated down stream. The further it floated, the faster the current became, and the faster the boat went. Soon the boy could not keep up with it, and the boat was swept away. The boy was very upset and sad that he had lost his boat. His prized possession. After all, he had created it with his own hands. He thought he might never see it again.
Several months later, as he was passing by a toy store, to his delight the boy saw his boat in the window of the store. He immediately went in to inquire about the boat. He told the clerk that it was his boat, because he had made it. The clerk said, "Well, it belongs to the store now. If you want it, you will have to pay for it."
The boy went away sad, but he had a plan. He had to earn enough money to buy back his boat. He went to his friends and neighbors and asked if there was something he could do for them so that he could earn money. He was willing to do anything to get his boat back. He mowed lawns, he raked leaves, he washed windows, he did any job he could find so that he could get enough money to buy back the boat.
At last the day came that he had earned enough.
The boy prayed that the boat would still be in the window, and that no body else had bought it. As he approached the window, he was very pleased to see that the boat was still there. He went in and told the clerk that he had enough money to buy back the boat. The clerk gladly sold him back his own sail boat.
As the boy walked out onto the sidewalk, he held the boat close to him and said, "you are really mine now. You are twice mine. You are mine because I created you and you are mine because I bought you."
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Think about it.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son." That Son is Jesus! God created man in His image. He created you and me. Then He let us go into the waters of this life. We were all washed away from Him by the currents of life. Then God sent His only Son, to buy us back. When you accept what God has done for you, by accepting the payment of Jesus's death on the cross for your sins, you become "twice His". You are His because He created you, and you are His because He bought you!
Think about it!
The day of my conversion will live in my memory forever. As we left the church that day, the sky was bluer, the grass was greener, the flowers were more brilliant, the world was a better place. It is just like the Apostle Paul, once you have had a personal encounter with the Lord, you are never the same.
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ABOUT ME
I have never thought of myself as being anything special to anyone. My life, to the regular everyday person, may seem like a total waste of time. I have never accomplished anything that could be termed a "great" thing.
I remember when I was a young mother with four children under the age of 5. A doctor told me that when I got to heaven, St. Peter would ask me why I thought I should enter in. He said that my answer would be "I raised my children".
"Behold, children are the heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is His reward." Psalms 127:3 NKJV
The greatest blessing the Lord has given me, in this life is my children.
As parents, we imagine that one day, our children will say good-bye to us as we leave this life and enter into our life with God outside of this life. Our children will be there, strong and whole, to help us in our old age. It is very hard to lose a child prematurely. I do know what I am talking about in this case. I have lost three children.
I had a miscarriage when I was only about 6 weeks pregnant. I never met this child, but will one day. Joseph was just under 4 months of age when he was called home. He was sick and so small. It was hard to lose him and say goodbye. But I knew he was sick. I knew from the beginning that he probably would not live. It didn't stop me from loving him. He was so small and innocent. So delicate. So precious in my sight. But God loved him more. Joseph was "God's special gift" to me. In fact, he was so special, that God took him back when he was very young.
It was hard to lose Joseph. I had three other children ages 4, 2 and 4 months, when Joseph died. We were so short on money, that an anonymous person gave the money for the cemetery plot. We just didn't have it.
I had to stay busy. So, I did. I did not have, nor did I take the time to mourn Joseph. I had to keep my feelings buried, because I had three other children depending on me.
However . . . . . .
It was different when Jacob died. Jacob was not sick. He was probably in the best health of his life. He was happy with himself. He had just bought his first brand new car, and just made the first payment on it.
Earlier in 1997 . . . . . .
On Sunday, September 7, 1997, my husband's only sibling, his sister Patricia Smith died of cancer. She had put up a good fight, undergoing surgery and chemo therapy for almost a year and a half. But in the end, cancer got her. My husband felt all alone now. Both of his parents had died, his father in 1972, and his mother in 1985, both from cancer. His last aunt had died August 11, 1997. So there was only one uncle from that generation left, and he lived in Chicago, Illinois. Now his sister was gone also. Patricia left behind her husband George, 5 grown children, 6 granddaughters, and 2 grandsons.
Then . . . . . .
On December 2, 1997, in the afternoon, I got a call at work from my brother Melvin. He called to tell me that my mother had died early that morning. She was 80 years old. She had osteoporosis, angina, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. I had not seen or talked to my mother for over a year because she was living in a group home in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Thanksgiving before (in 1996) Martha and I had gone to Las Vegas, to see her. That was the last time I saw her alive. Melvin told me that she had just gone to sleep. She had died very peacefully in her sleep. My mother was a Christian, so I know that I will see her again. It was still very hard for me to go to the funeral. My father had died in 1986 of cancer. This left me with my 2 brothers and 1 sister. Because both my mother and my father came from large families, I have a lot of aunts and uncles. My mother was laid to rest in the Sunset Memorial Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, next to her life long companion, my father.
The next few days and weeks went by slowly, as we tried to get back to the regular daily tasks. Each of us went back to work. And as Christmas approached, a sense of dread came upon me. I assumed it was just the void left by my mother's passing. Martha had the same feeling. Then Christmas evening, I was to come face to face with the fear that grips every loving parent.
. . . . . .
We had a good Christmas celebration. It was the best time we had together as a family in many years. Martha (who was living outside of Denton, in Aubrey, Texas) drove out to the house, Thomas and his girlfriend were there, and Jacob was there. We opened our gifts, had dinner, visited and talked. We enjoyed each other's company.
In the middle of the afternoon, Jacob said that he was bored and wanted to go somewhere. He had bought his first brand new car, a 1997 Ford Escort, just about 2 months before, and wanted to go for a drive. He left the house and went to his cousin's house. Ann and Edwin Campbell's son, Clifford, and Jacob did a lot together. They were very close. Kimberly and Roy Byerly, (Kimberly is Ann Campbell's sister) had moved to Sunset only a few months earlier. Their son Roy Lee, Clifford and Jacob decided to go for a ride together to Bowie, Texas, and just hang out. They came back to Sunset and about 6 in the evening, they decided to drive the 50 miles into the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex and take in a movie. Jacob came by the house to let us know their plans, and off they went. Jacob's words still echo in my mind. He said "Clifford and me are going into the Metroplex to go to a movie." The last words I ever heard him say.
Martha had gone on home, and Thomas and his girlfriend had gone to Decatur to a movie. It was about 9:30 in the evening, when we heard footsteps on the porch. I thought it was Jacob coming home. There was a knock on the door. When we opened it, there were two Texas State Troopers, and a Chaplain there. They told us that Jacob had been involved in an automobile accident. He had been fatally injured. My heart broke. I cannot describe the pain I felt, the utter horror. It tore deep into my very being. I cried, but no tears came.
After I had gained some composure, the trooper asked if I knew who was with Jacob in the car. I told him that Clifford Campbell was with him. At that time, I did not know that Roy Lee had gone along. I asked if Clifford was alright. He said that Clifford had also been killed. He asked who else was in the car, and as he described him, I knew it was Roy Lee. All three boys lost their lives that day.
Ann Campbell, her husband Edwin, Kimberly Byerly and her husband Roy are all hearing impared. My husband Bill drove the few blocks to the girls brother Bobby's house. Bobby immediately came over. We told him what had happened, and he agreed to be the interpreter for his sisters.
. . . . . .
The funerals were all on Monday, December 29, 1997. Clifford and Roy Lee had a joint service in the First Baptist Church of Sunset. Jacob's service was at Victory Family Church in Decatur.
If you think it is hard for you to attend a funeral of a friend, or loved one, think about how it must be to attend three funerals in one day. All of them being for young people. All of them being for those you love with all your heart. All of them being for the ones you would give your very life for. All of them being the ones you would fight anyone for. All of them being mere children.
Jesus is Lord!
"The Lord is My Shepherd"
from Songs of Praise
thank you, Elton
